Reply to Thread

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the Hot Rod Forum : Hotrodders Bulletin Board forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name (usually not your first and last name), your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.

Additional Options

Miscellaneous Options

Automatically parse links in text

Automatically embed media (requires automatic parsing of links in text to be on).

Automatically retrieve titles from external links

Topic Review (Newest First)

11-25-2009 06:48 PM

bocephus86

a little bit of play dough may work if u can get it to stay in place long enough to close the door
maybe a little grease to hold it place been awhile since ive played with this stuff not sure if it is sticky enough to stay there
good luck

11-25-2009 04:35 PM

1800guy

To check switch clearance between the door and the jamb, gets some modeling clay, put it in a sandwich baggie, tape the baggie to the jamb, and close the door on it. It will squish down to where you can measure the clearance.

09-16-2003 04:26 AM

horvath

LOL! I was driving home from my Mom's, after dinner ... it was comin' down in buckets, man! -- and in 5 minutes flat it was flooding everywhere! Cars were going real slow and sending water-plumes up like 4 feet high ... I was marching along in the truck with them little 10-inch wipers flappin' up and down ... and grinning all the way home.

Check this picture out :

The pin on this switch goes ALL the way IN ... completely. It even recesses if you push hard on it. They're $6.00 each, but HIGH quality switches. I got them from:

Rained like a SOB here too,I thought a Tornado was gonna ripe my tin"U-haul storage unit"I call a garage off its slab,while I was workin on the car LOL.
I think I have about the same clearance 1/4" or so,I havent officaily measured either.My switches are surface mounted.You got ones that you can mount from the back????If so I need a set of them too.I pulled mine from a Olds Cutlass in the junkyard this afternoon.

09-16-2003 01:59 AM

horvath

I haven't examined my jams with my Official Sherlock Holmes magnifying glass yet, but it seems to me there's some space in there ... 1/4"? ... 3/8"?

How much space is in your jam when the door is closed?

With the buttons I have, the shaft of the switch is about 1/2" long ... I figured I'd mount it with washers behind the sheet-metal so the threads come through JUST enough to receive the nut ... then, see how far the switch-shaft needs to travel to break electrical contact ... then cut the shaft down as needed.

If it ever stops raining here in Jersey, I'll check it out in more detail.

Alan,a freind of mine gave me the idea to hold a ball peen hammer over were I'm gonna put the switch then hit the back of the balleen hammer with another hammer,to recess the switch.I may try it,but I gotta measure cause I'm not sure I can recess them enough to clear.But theres an idea for ya.Maybe cover the ballpeen in a cotton rag so it don't screw the jam paint.

09-16-2003 12:42 AM

horvath

Cool!

I haven't put switches in my door-jams either ... I have them, waiting to go in, but haven't done the job yet. I'm gonna look at the project closer now, after what you pointed out ... making sure I have the space in the door jam, and the amount of button sticking out, calculated properly. Hmmm ... maybe I'll have to cut the shaft of the button down?

Isn't it funny how exciting it is to do things like this and SEE them lights go on? LOL!

Just got it done today.I put two under the dash,one on each side and a dome light,which is just hanging,cause theres no headliner yet.Got it all from the junkyard for $7.
I couldn't hook up the doorjams as there is no space to fit them.I didn't measure ahead and wound up putting one in and squashing it.Ooops.But its all off the dash switch which is still OK too.
I also ran a feed off the hot to the back two panel lights which have there own switches which ground to the body.So they are steady hot and controled by the little toggles that are on them.

09-15-2003 03:45 AM

horvath

Muddyone is right on, 78monte. I had no courtesy lights in my truck when I first got it and after rewiring it, I put 2 in under the dash. I'll be putting more in when I finish the interior panels, etc.

It sure is nice to have some light, eh?

You gave me a new idea -- while reading your post, I thought it would be cool to light up my running boards when the door opens!

So the white goes to the switch and is the ground which I kinna knew but didn't.
Anyway the doorjams when the door is open completes the loop to ground.Right so far??
Now how does the dash switch work when ya turn it to on(for courtesy lights)it completes the loop to ground also??

Correct me if I'm wrong here but I should do this:
Run the orange direct to the lights,then hook the whites into the white going to the switch and just splice into that wire somewere and hook it to the doorjams Right??

09-14-2003 06:33 PM

muddyone

Hopefully this will make sense and help you out!!!
white wires from the dash switch goes to the jamb switches and the switches should be self grounding.These should be the same white wires that run to every interior light.As these act as the ground wire for each light which is triggered by the light switch.
The orange wire should be hot coming from the fuse panel,this goes to every light as well,but not the door jamb switches.

Hope this was helpfull!!!

DRIVE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT!!!

09-14-2003 06:21 PM

78 monte

GM courtesy lights

.There is one courtesy light under the dash which would periodically turn on.Well I traced the problem back to a set of lights that are in the rear panels on the sides of the rear seat.Any way there was a switch for each rear light which were wired to ground out the indevidual lights.
Anyay I took out the switches and plan on just wiring them side lights off the courtesy and doorjams.
Anyway there is no doorjam switches yet just a couple of orange wires and a white under the dash.
Now I don't know how the door switches work(groundout,complete loop to ground,supply power through switched leg etc...)nor do I know how the dash switch bypasses the doorjams.Nor do I feel like taking the dash apart for a third time LOL
Can someone tell me were to find online a schematic for courtesy lights GM wireing??

I wasn't planing on courtesy lights wile I was pissed and just trying for brake lights ,but now I cooled down and figure I want to be able to turn on some lights so I don't get the flashlight in the face when I get pulled over for pulling holeshots after dark.